Milan (AsiaNews) ‚Äď Italy‚Äôs financial police (Guardia italiana di Finanza) has seized US bonds worth US 134.5 billion from two Japanese nationals at Chiasso (40 km from Milan) on the border between Italy and Switzerland. They include 249 US Federal Reserve bonds worth US$ 500 million each, plus ten Kennedy bonds and other US government securities worth a billion dollar each.

It doesn't say whether these "Japanese nationals" are of the pro-North Korea faction, or what. North Korea has long been printing bogus US currency; they are probably the biggest counterfeiters of US dollars in the world (though I'm sure the Russians have a huge operation, as well; so, too, the Chinese; the FARC narco-terrorists in Columbia have been busted with some very sophisticated forging tools and hundreds of millions in fake dollars, too.)

We need to find out exactly WHO these people are, and whom the represent.

The implications of the securities being legitimate would be bigger than investors may realize. At a minimum, it would suggest that the U.S. risks losing control over its monetary supply on a massive scale.

U.S. records shows that there are an estimated $105.4 billion in bearer bonds that have yet to be surrendered, with most maturing more than five years ago. The Treasury stopped issuing bearer bonds in 1982.

All the projections about the US becoming #2 by 2050 are too optimistic. The world can change extremely fast in just a year. The moment we lose reserve currency status, it won't be long before we drop like a rock. Many major nations are already starting to phase out the dollar for trade.

Some people may be surprised at the fact there is a very strong pro-North Korea movement living in Japan. No big revelation. Many Koreans live in Japan. Have lived their since Japan occupied Korea, from 1905 until 1945. Koreans keep their ethnic identity, they don't "become Japanese" just because they live in Japan. Not hard to imagine, as anyone who has relatives from Europe come over to America and keep their language, their culture, etc. Only for Koreans and Japanese it is much deeper than for Europeans and Americans.

There are two factions of Koreans living in Japan: one is pro-South Korea, and the other is pro-North Korea. Needless to say they are at opposite ends of the political spectrum.

‚ÄúThey‚Äôre clearly fakes,‚ÄĚ Stephen Meyerhardt, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of the Public Debt in Washington, said yesterday. ‚ÄúThat‚Äôs beyond the fact that the face value is far beyond what‚Äôs out there.‚ÄĚ